Tiny Tiger
Tiny Tiger is a Tasmanian tiger with an ironic name initially created by Doctor Nitrus Brio. He is often seen working for Doctor Neo Cortex, the main antagonist of the series and is also his most loyal animal minion. Before Crash of the Titans, Tiny was essentially the more rampaging, bestial counterpart to Koala Kong's self-infatuated muscleman disposition. Tiny's intelligence in Crash of the Titans increased, giving the character a new personality. Out of all of Cortex's animal minions, Tiny makes the most appearances in the series, physically appearing in eleven games and vocally in one game over the course of eleven years, undergoing incredibly drastic changes in appearance in the later games. History Pre-series history It was implied in at least two instruction manuals that Tiny was Doctor Cortex's first foray into genetic alteration. However, this conflicts with what was established by Naughty Dog, who confirmed that Ripper Roo was Cortex's first serious creation, with Tiny originally conceived by and serving N. Brio. It should be noted however that Tiny was conceived for the original game, where he almost certainly would have been established as a creation and servant of both Cortex and Brio. His character was omitted however and, like the Komodo Brothers, reimagined for the second game. It's assumed that before his creation, he was a normal Thylacine. Naughty Dog era Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back Tiny made his debut in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back as the third boss of the game. Under the orders of Doctor Nitrus Brio, Tiny attempts to stop Crash from gathering Crystals by crushing him under his feet inside a space station. There is no floor in the room they fight in, but rather an endless chasm, with nine mechanical platforms set up in a three-by-three fashion to save both of them from falling to their doom. However, all of these platforms are faulty, eventually malfunctioning and deactivating. Crash uses this to his advantage, and tricks the gullible Tiny into jumping into the resulting gap that is created by these faulty platforms. Crash must repeat this strategy two more times to defeat Tiny. Every time Tiny falls with a platform, it returns up with him. As an often unseen detail, while Crash is already celebrating his victory with his own trademark dance, Tiny is actually returning up even after running out of hit points but appearing exhausted, lying on the platform which, in turn, after having brought up Tiny finally ends up falling beneath the tiger's weight. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped In Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, it is revealed that Tiny survived his previous fall. His, Cortex, and N. Gin's battle all took place in Cortex's space station, leaving ambiguity to his servitude in the previous game. Either way here, he serves under Uka Uka and Doctor Neo Cortex, attempting to take whatever crystals Crash and Coco have gathered and bringing them to Cortex in the Colosseum of Rome under his orders. Crash encounters Tiny wearing Gladiator Armor in the Colosseum chained to two columns (a la Samson), which he snaps free from with ease. Tiny then proceeds to try and crush Crash under his feet, just as he did in their last encounter. When Tiny tries to impale Crash with his trident, the trident becomes stuck in the ground, leaving Tiny open for attack. Tiny then summons numerous lions to try and eat Crash. After this cycle is repeated two more times, Tiny is knocked out, Cortex giving a speech to Crash and Cortex afterwards said "Tiny was a good fellow. He hated everyone and everything, but a good heart nonetheless." and warning Crash to be more "reasonable" with his minions. Crash Team Racing Tiny is a playable character in the Crash Team Racing, driving a Lime-colored, high-speed, low-control kart. He has a garage resembling a medieval dungeon, where he keeps his kart along with several stacks of crates, and likes to use it as an exercise room. Tiny has a comically easy time lifting, tossing, and even bending his enormous weights. His home track in the game is Tiny Arena. In the intro he attempts to "fix" his kart with a mallet only to smash it. Like Dingodile, Papu Papu and Doctor Nefarious Tropy, he excels in speed but is not good at turning. Stats *Speed: 6/6 *Acceleration: 1/4 *Turning: 1/4 *Difficulty: Advanced Eurocom era Crash Bash In Crash Bash, Tiny is summoned by Uka Uka to battle against Aku Aku's team (Crash and Coco), alongside Cortex, N. Brio, Dingodile, Koala Kong and Rilla Roo. However, he is switched over to Aku Aku's team along with Dingodile, as Uka Uka's team had too many players. His evil counterpart is Koala Kong. In the Crate Crush levels, Tiny can kick other players or crates which is very short ranged, but he makes up for it with an excellent throwing distance. Because of his massive size, Tiny also moves quite slow. In the Polar Push minigames, Tiny can give a powerful charge, whenever he charges into smaller players (like Crash) it is possible they will fly off the edge of the arena. Tiny's charging meter however, takes a short minute to fill up again. In Ballistix, Tiny can deliver a double shockwave to deflect the balls. In the Crash Dash levels, Tiny is much harder to be pushed around and can exert more force in his push. In the Tank Wars levels, his shots are short-range, but deal a large amount of damage. In these levels, Tiny's weaponry are spiked cannon balls. Traveller's Tales era Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex In Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, after Bash, Tiny is an attendee in Uka Uka's bad guy convention, not speaking a single line in the entire game, besides growling noises. His sole action in the convention is attempting to clutch a hologram of Crash Bandicoot. He later serves as an obstacle in certain levels, literally standing in Crash's way in an attempt to hinder him, as well as operating various flying vehicles in levels involving planes or spaceships. His first in-game appearance was the second level in the first Warp Room, Tornado Alley, where he is one of the pilots firing at Crash to defend Cortex's generators, alongside N. Gin, N. Tropy, and Dingodile. He then was seen in Smokey and the Bandicoot as an enemy racer against Crash's jeep. Next, he appeared in Eskimo Roll, where he literally stands in Crash's way to hinder his progress, with Dingodile and N. Tropy shooting at the bandicoot with their flamethrower and tuning fork, respectively. Later, Tiny appeared in the third level of the fourth Warp Room, Crashteroids, where he, N. Gin, N. Tropy, and Dingodile attempt to hinder Coco's progress of shooting down the three space stations assembled by Cortex by shooting at her with their own space shuttles. His next-to-last appearance in the game was the third level in the fifth warp room, Medieval Madness, where he plays the same roll as he did in Eskimo Roll. His final appearance in the game was the in fourth level of the sixth Warp Room, Solar Bowler, and as mentioned before, plays the same role as he did in Eskimo Roll and Medieval Madness, but only the Master of Time appears alongside him. Crash Twinsanity Tiny has a cameo in Crash Twinsanity during Crash's "birthday party" ([[Jungle Bungle|a gathering of past Crash villains]]). His full model can be seen in the Concept Art. Vicarious Visions era Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure In Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, Tiny serves as the third boss the game. He once again dons his gladiator attire and fights Crash near a large waterfall. His fighting style here is much like that in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, leaving Crash to beat him into submission whenever his trident is stuck to a platform. He is later merged with Doctor Neo Cortex, Doctor N. Gin, and Dingodile and becomes Mega-Mix. After chasing Crash down a space station hall, Mega-Mix is left inside the space station, which explodes with the villains in it. Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced Tiny makes a cameo as a playable character in the multiplayer atlasphere mode. Crash Nitro Kart Tiny is a playable character in Crash Nitro Kart, driving for Cortex's team in a high-speed, low-control kart. In the game's story, Tiny is seen playing checkers with himself and later attempts to assist Doctor N. Gin when the tower they're standing in is abducted. At the end of the "Team Cortex" side of the story, he assists Cortex in his power play against Velo, overpowering him as his master steals his sceptre, though it breaks in the scuffle, teleporting the team to Terra. After being seen holding Velo's symbol of power, Tiny gains the respect of the inhabitants (much to Cortex's annoyance). Stats (Console) Speed: 6/7 Acceleration: 4/7 Turning: 2/7 Difficulty: Advanced Stats (GBA) Speed: 10/10 Acceleration: 8/10 Turning: 5/10 Difficulty: Advanced Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage In Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage, Tiny acts as the second boss, attempting to obliterate Crash in a frozen tundra with a tank, which Crash destroys. He is not seen for the rest of the game. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Tiny repeats his role as boss in the remaster of the second and third game. Radical Entertainment era Crash of the Titans In Crash of the Titans, Tiny is seen in his new form when Cortex gave him protests regarding Cortex's replacement alongside Doctor N. Gin by commenting positively on Cortex's stationery. Tiny is the one in charge of the mining operations seen in Episodes 5 through 7, responsible for destroying a large portion of the jungle and obtaining minerals from the volcano for the purpose of gathering materials for the Doominator. When Crash confirms these operations, Tiny confronts Crash directly and voices his displeasure in both Crash's antics and the fact that he wasn't invited to Crash Tag Team Racing. He then orders his Titans to defeat Crash, promising the mutant who accomplishes this task half the day off on Tuesday. When Crash confronts Tiny with the Shellephant, Tiny decides to reveal the whereabouts of Crash's sister, who was kept in Doctor N. Gin's Weapons Factory at the time. Crash: Mind Over Mutant Although Tiny doesn't appear physically in Crash: Mind Over Mutant, his voice can be heard during the credits, in which he attempts to correct Crunch when he mixes up his metaphors. Spin-Offs Crash Boom Bang Tiny has a cameo appearance in Crash Boom Bang, appearing in the "Silhouette Quiz" minigame. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2 Tiny appears as a playable Character in this game. In the game, he drives Crash's Crikey car from CTTR and is given his old look again. Appearances *''Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back'' *''Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped'' *''Crash Team Racing'' *''Crash Bash'' *''Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex'' *''Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure'' *''Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced'' (playable in multiplayer mode) *''Crash Nitro Kart'' *''Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage'' *''Crash Twinsanity'' (cameo) *''Crash Boom Bang!'' (cameo) *''Crash of the Titans'' *''Crash Nitro Kart 2'' *''Crash: Mind Over Mutant'' (conversation with Crunch during credits) *''Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2'' *''Skylanders: Imaginators'' (statue) *''Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy'' *''Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled'' Characteristics Personality In his earlier appearances, Tiny was depicted to be a hot-tempered and fierce but unintelligent creature. He is extremely loyal to Doctor Cortex, following his every whim without question and guarding him fiercely. To his master's annoyance, however, he contributes little in terms of intellect, usually dismissed and treated like a child. He is also somewhat clumsy, as demonstrated in Crash Nitro Kart, in which he flattens Dingodile while rushing to assist Doctor N. Gin. If something breaks, Tiny is the first to be blamed. Unlike Crash, who is somewhat smarter than him but can only speak a few words, Tiny is capable of speech, but often speaks in the third person, reflecting his low intelligence (Crash! Coco! Stole the pretty crystals! Tiny take them back in gladiator arena!). He can manage several vehicles and technical utilities competently however, having scuffled with the bandicoots not just toe to toe, but in tanks, dog fights and kart races. Generally any enemy of Cortex is an enemy of Tiny. He shares his sadistic animosity towards Crash; whenever the time comes to fight him, he displays pleasure in trying to squash him. When fighting Crash, Tiny tends to be so fixated on destroying the bandicoot that he often distracts himself from other threats in the area, creating openings for Crash to get the upper hand. A statement made by Doctor Neo Cortex in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped reveals that Tiny is not truly evil, but is only doing what he is told by Doctor Cortex because of his low intelligence and lack of ability to think for himself. Indeed, amongst the villain conventions, Tiny is often portrayed as docile and oblivious. Nevertheless, he is depicted as a megalomaniac, and believes that Crunch is a "soft-hearted copycat". In Crash Nitro Kart, the people of Terra see Tiny as a god. This is shown in Tiny Temple and in the final Team Cortex cutscene. However, in Crash of the Titans, Tiny underwent drastic changes in both personality and intellect: his intelligence has increased to an average level above that of Crash. He is no longer a cardboard beastly monster who constantly bellows his desire to smash certain objects; rather, he is a considerate individual who continues to battle Crash due to his unhappiness with being just a bit character in the series. He has grown something of a liking to Crash (or revealed to have never disliked him), describing him as one point as "stupendous and fantabulous". While this incarnation of Tiny is considerably less evil than in the past, he is still willing to aid Neo Cortex in his time of need, specifically when the latter faces replacement in Crash of the Titans. Physical appearance Ironic to his name, Tiny has always been rather large. Before Crash Twinsanity and Crash of the Titans, Tiny appeared to be an orange, muscular creature with sharp fangs and pointed claws. He was often seen wearing spiked shoulder pads, metal bracelets, a green leopard-spotted loincloth, and red sneakers. Due to the circumstances of the boss fight against him in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, his attire is updated to include a gladiator helmet, an armored left arm, two belts criss-crossing his torso, and a trident at hand. For an unexplained reason, Tiny also dons this attire in Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure. For another unexplained reason, he does not have spiky shoulder pads in Crash Nitro Kart. Tiny's species has varied over the years. The aforementioned erroneous name "Taz Tiger" suggests that he is a Thylacine (also known as a Tasmanian Tiger), although his behavior is very much that of a common tiger. In Crash Twinsanity, Tiny is deliberately redesigned to look like a Thylacine, where he had lighter fur, a smaller head and stripes on his back (due to oversight, his tail isn't part of his model). This was taken to the other extreme in Crash of the Titans when Tiny was redesigned again to resemble a feline tiger of unknown subspecies. Tiny is fully clothed in this redesign, donning an attire that resembles that of a U.S. Marine. According to the Nintendo DS version of Crash of the Titans, Tiny is 2 meters tall (6 feet, 7 inches) and weighs 90 kilograms (198.45 pounds), putting his body mass index at 22.5 (normal range). Abilities Tiny's most notable ability is his superhuman strength; this strength allows Tiny to rip through metal surfaces, break free from bondage without assistance and lift heavy objects. Despite his ridiculously skinny legs, Tiny is known for his incredible jumping prowess, as demonstrated in the boss battles against him. Tiny uses this power along with his heavy muscle mass to crush any of those unfortunate enough to be under him at the time. While Tiny doesn't fight Crash directly in Crash of the Titans, he is shown to still be capable of impressive strength, performing such feats as easily lifting Crash off the ground by the arm and sufficiently harming him with but a flick of a finger. In the Game Boy Advance version of the same game, Tiny is shown to be skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and can even shoot purple fireballs from his hands. Quotes Portrayals In the Naughty Dog games, Tiny is voiced by Brendan O'Brien in the English versions (though Tiny doesn't actually speak until ''Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped), by Nathan Jones in the French versions, Luca Bottale in the Italian versions and by Fumihiko Tachiki in the Japanese versions. In Crash Bash, Tiny's voice consists of both samples of his roar in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Komodo Moe's laugh in the same game. In the English version of Crash Nitro Kart, Tiny is voiced by John DiMaggio, who would later go on to voice Uka Uka in the Radical Entertainment games. Masafumi Kimura, who would later voice Crunch Bandicoot in Crash Tag Team Racing, voices Tiny in the Japanese version of the game. As of Crash of the Titans, Chris Williams, who also voices Crunch Bandicoot in the same series, voices Tiny in the style of boxer Mike Tyson. In the Nintendo DS version of Crash of the Titans, Tiny is voiced by Nolan North, who also voices Doctor N. Gin in the same series. Jean-Jacques Morteau voices Tiny in the French versions of these games and Luca Sandri in the Italian versions. John DiMaggio reprised his role in the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Gallery See: Tiny Tiger/Gallery Trivia *During development of Crash Bandicoot, Tiny was originally called "Tazmanian Tiger" or simply "Taz Tiger", clarifying that he is a Thylacine: an extinct marsupial nicknamed the Tasmanian Tiger. By the time Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back launched, he had been renamed to Tiny Tiger. *Tiny, along with the Komodo Brothers, were designed during development of the first game, and thus he appears in the scrapped cartoon cutscenes. *In earlier versions of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, including the original North American NTSC-U release of the game, the pause menu during his boss fight calls him "Taz Tiger", as it was one of his original names. **In other lyric sheets for the cartoon cutscenes, Tiny is mentioned as "Tazmanian Tiger". *In Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, Tiny's boss fight has Dingodile's theme playing instead. *Despite his enormous size, in CTR he is only the third largest character on the track, first and second being Nitros Oxide and Papu Papu respectively. However, Tiny is still the second largest character on the podiums. *Tiny, along with Dingodile, Polar, Pura, Fake Crash, and Dr. N. Tropy, are the only returning characters of Crash Team Racing and Crash Nitro Kart that didn't return racing in Crash Tag Team Racing; Tiny points out in Crash of the Titans that he is still mad about not being "invited" to the game. *In Crash of the Titans, Tiny was designed after a Bengal tiger. *Ironically, despite originally working for N. Brio, Tiny is among the very few minions to stay consistently loyal to Cortex since first serving him, having never betrayed him by his own free will (he was forcibly made to work for opposing factions in Crash Bash and Crash Of The Titans however). Certain official statements in fact refer to him as Cortex's most loyal minion. It is unknown why this is the case since logically speaking he should be loyal to N. Brio instead. *He has a cameo in Skylanders: Imaginators as a statue during a musical minigame, along with Dingodile. *Tiny's voice in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled strongly resembles that of the Heavy class of character in Valve's Team Fortress 2 franchise. *By the time of Cortex's and N. Brio's action to plunder the world, Thylacines were long since extinct as the last one (Benjamin) died in 1936. Thylacines are nowadays considered cryptids: animals whose existence is debated and unproven. As a result Tiny is likely the last of his kind in the Crash universe. Category:Crash Bandicoot characters Category:Male video game characters Category:Video game bosses Category:Video game antagonists Category:Fictional thylacines Category:Fictional genetically engineered characters Category:Fictional henchmen Category:Fictional characters with mental retardation Category:Fictional characters with superhuman strength Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1997